Sophie’s new career as a professional secret bridesmaid leads to her taking on the role for a real Bridezilla. She loves weddings and this would be the perfect job for her to become more established. As a secret bridesmaid, she helps to organise the hen party, big day itself, and all the problems that can crop up.
However, the bride, Lady Cordelia, is resentful and doesn’t make things easy for Sophie, making a list of items she wants which are impossible to obtain.
This is a light-hearted, engaging story involving various characters, and lots of amusing dialogue. Sophie is a determined character and is resilient in her efforts to succeed, which are a joy to read. The characters are well drawn and relatable, and I felt empathy for Sophie trying to cope with Cordelia’s petulant demands. Sometimes wishing that Sophie would storm off and let Cordelia deal with the wedding herself!
I love the short extracts at the end of each chapter, in the form of either WhatsApp messages or emails within groups of friends, or other brides she is working with. They are hilarious to read, like the cream within the cake.
This is an engaging, light-hearted story with lots of humour, which I recommend highly, and I am looking out for Katy Birchall’s next book.

What a great read!
Zingy and fun, a real feel good book. In fact it was so funny in parts that I think it should be available on prescription, for when you need perking up!

The premise is intriguing: A professional bridesmaid to help with every aspect of the big day, Sophie Breeze is hired by Lady Victoria for her seemingly spoilt and obnoxious daughter's high society wedding. Cordelia does not want Sophie's help and makes life very difficult for her. Sophie is super organised and brilliant at her job though, and tries to win her over. That is what I liked most about this book; the interactions between Sophie and Cordelia. A hopeless situation or a blossoming friendship?

Loved the little insights to the other weddings that Sophie was involved with too. I couldn't help hooting at a couple of moments as I read them.
Witty and sharp and lots of fun!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Hodder and Stoughton for this advanced copy.

Funny and enjoyable, a good escapist read in these difficult times. The characters very relatable and I was cheering on for a happy ending!

Really enjoyed story and how the idea of a secret bridesmaid brought a different dimension to the story. Just want to know what happened next for Tom and Sophie...

I judged this book by its cover and it's blurb, and boy was I wrong for doing that. I wanted to read this book because I read a lot of chick lit and romance, but I never expected to love this story, nor did I expect it to be a 5 star read.
Sophie is a professional bridesmaid (yes that’s a job…apparently) hired by brides to help plan and organise their special day. When she is hired by a brides mother she soon comes to realise this isn’t just any normal wedding, this is society’s biggest wedding, and the bride Cordelia is less than impressed by her mothers hiring of Sophie.

This book has become one of my all time favourites. It is a hilarious, feel good, heart-warming, easy to read chick lit. The romance was more of a side of line to this story and the main plot line is the friendship building between Sophie and Cordelia which was refreshing. The whole story was fun, and was broken up with snippets of the different weddings Sophie has been apart of. Overall an enjoyable, funny read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the chance to read this before publishing in return for a honest review.

This was such a fun read, I completely raced through it! I was totally hooked by the description and it really lived up to it, such a fun set up! It reminded me of things like 27 Dresses and Four Weddings and a Funeral, there's so much material to be mined from the joy and comedy of weddings! Sophie is such a likeable character - she's sweet and kind and caring but she really grows in strength and as she says, being "sassy" through the story. In the beginning I found I was genuinely angry at Cordelia's attempts to bully her out of the job but that made their change in relationship all the more satisfying. The romance wasn't actually as much of a focus in the story as the friendship and wedding elements but that was quite refreshing and there's still a good few swoons to be had!

Really enjoyable book!

When I realised that Katy Birchall had previous written for young adults I was a worried that The Secret Bridesmaid would be aimed at this age group. After I'd read the first page it was obvious that this was an adult contemporary romance which is extremely funny and entertaining.

Sophie is a professional bridesmaid, just like a wedding planner but secretly employed by the bride as her best friend and bridesmaid.
Sophie is the zen to all her brides' hysteria, calming them down, while offering an alternative to their ludicrous requests.

Lady Victoria, the Marchioness of Meade, engages Sophie's services for her daughter Cordelia's high society wedding, except Cordelia is adamant she doesn't want help, continually acting a prima donna by making the most outrageous demands in an attempt to force Sophie to quit. If Sophie succeeds to create the society wedding of the year it will make her career, but can she work with Cordelia's insulting behaviour and requests that become more and more outlandish.

Running through the book are messages from Sophie's other brides and wedding suppliers, all with one thing in common, additional problems for Sophie.

An easy to read and funny book, recommended whether you like weddings or not!

ARC generously supplied by Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley, this review is my honest opinion and completely unbiased.

Sophie Breeze is a brilliant bridesmaid. So brilliant, in fact, that she’s made it her full-time job. As a professional bridesmaid, Sophie is hired by London brides to be their right-hand woman, posing as a friend but working behind the scenes to help plan the perfect wedding and ensure their big day goes off without a hitch.

This is a lovely, fast-paced, easy read, one that you can quite easily read in one sitting and not realise how much time has passed. There is laugh out loud moments, the characters are heartwarming and overall, it is a really enjoyable read. This would be perfect for the beach or around the pool.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

This book was charming, funny and well written. The plot was different to anything I’ve read before and it was lovely to see a female friendship taking the lead in this plot rather than your usual love story. I will definitely be recommending this book to friends and family when it is released and looking to read much more from this author.

The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall is so much fun. Clearly you'll have to suspend disbelief as you read it but isn't that partly what sinking into a book is about? Sophie, Cara and Cordelia are three very different characters who blend well and Katy Birchall sustains their individuality throughout the book. The story is light and amusing but has some substance. Sophie is a professional bridesmaid and the author uses electronic communication to provide humorous asides without becoming tediously repetitious about some of the absurdities of weddings. I liked the character development of, and changing relationship between, Sophie and Cordelia and the fact that the bit-part players had some depth.

Absolutely couldn't put this book down. It is an escapist and truly joyous read during this third lockdown. Want to get out of your head? Wish you could remember what real life was like? Then don't miss out on this one! Katy's voice is so fresh and enjoyable, you just get caught up in the moment. I wish I could be attending weddings, making new friends and falling in love. But for now, The Secret Bridesmaid will have to do for all my escapism! Highly recommended!

This is the first book of Katy Birchall's I've read, and I'm happy to say that it definitely won't be the last.

'The Secret Bridesmaid' tells the story of Sophie, whose career is a hired, professional bridesmaid to provide brides-in-need some help and organisation.. Sophie loves her job, but she soon realises that she's bitten off more than she can chew when she is hired for the exclusive wedding of Lady Cordelia by Cordelia's mother, and finds out that Cordelia will do everything in her power to make Sophie quit.

This was a lovely, light-hearted read, which was well-written in terms of getting the humour just right without being too cringey. Although there was an underlying romantic storyline, I really liked the fact that this story was about friendships and finding yourself, rather than finding a boyfriend.

It's a shame about the front cover, as it seems quite bland and clipart-y; I know that I wouldn't have picked the book up based on its cover, so I'll have to make sure to recommend this to my readers despite that.

Overall, a great read!

Sophie Breeze is so familiar with being a bridesmaid that she's decided to make it her career, going undercover to help out hungover brides and stop grooms from (literally) setting fire to the dance-floor. Katy Birchall ably makes the transition from YA to adult fiction, keeping some of the pacing and laughs from the Young Adult genre. Sophie's wrangles with left-field wedding companies who provide naughty T-shirt slogans and doughnut walls were so funny I wanted more of them as were the drunken text chats from hen dos and Sophie's banter with her cousin Cara, who got her into the down-low bridesmaid business to begin with. It seems like the unflappable Sophie might never meet her match, but when a former client introduces her to tough-as-nails aristocrat Cordelia, it's going to take more than Sophie's organisational skills to give her the wedding of her dreams, especially with a reduced timescale - and why does Lady Cordelia have no friends of her own? A great, fluffy piece of escapism, perfect for freeing yourself from troubled times and written with enough style to make it less of a guilty pleasure - just pure pleasure! Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I loved this book; it was funny, sad, moving and just such a lovely story. I enjoyed every line of it and didn’t want to reach the end. A real feel good story, absolutely perfect for 2021. I can imagine it making a wonderful film. Definitely one to recommend.

The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall

Sophie is the secret bridesmaid and Lady Cordellia is the society bride.


An absolutely fabulous well written book . I loved it.

It was humorous, cringe worthy and all at the same time. At times you felt so sad about the life of bridezilla ( Cordellia) who on one hand has such privilege but in others feels like she’s worthless

. I couldn’t put the book down a page turner from beginning to end.

I loved the Secret Bridesmaid, it was great good fun. It’s not the sort of thing I normally read but i wanted something lockdown light and the premise sounded promising. Sophie is a professional bridesmaid which basically means she’s there to stop brides freaking out and getting overwhelmed by the wedding prep.
I do like reading about organised women, I think they are marvellous and wish I was one of them so it’s nice to read about them to know that they exist somewhere. This book is great because it’s not about the dudes, they are there looking pretty and being generally sweet but they are most defiantly a side piece. It’s all about the knotty ground of female friendship specifically female friendship in your thirties. We just don’t have the time so falling in love with a new best friend is often more fraught than any romantic relationship. It also means that when friendships break down more damage is done especially when the friendship is one of long standing. Those friends we made when we were 18 may be outgrown or outgrow us and it’s heartbreaking.
This is Birchall’s first adult novel, her background is books for the young folk but I think this only helped it makes it easy to read, the exchanges between the characters sharp and at times charmingly goofy. I loved all these girls and would be their friend in a heartbeat.
Top stuff 👍🏻

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Romantic Comedy

Release Date: Expected 4th May 2021



Sophie is the bridesmaid. Always.

In fact, it's her job to be the best bridesmaid you could ask her. Offering her services to expectant brides, she dons her new identity as a childhood friend or distant cousin to make sure the wedding goes off perfectly and then dissapears into the background, leaving nobody knowing the secret. So when she gets a referral to work on the wedding of the Lady Cordelia, daughter of the Marchioness - it's set to be her biggest challenge to date. This could put her business on the map (secretly, of course) and give Sophie the chance to experience how the other half live.

But Cordelia isn't too happy about this arrangement - she doesn't need or want friends whether they're fake or not. The living embodiment of every Bridezilla story you've ever heard, who is dead set to get Sophie out of her life for good. And as she gets to know the Swann family, including Cordelia's amazingly handsome older brother, it looks like there might just be more than meets the eye.

This book was a witty, adorably funny read that wasn't at all what I expected. Sophies' antics as she manages her very diverse cast of brides and all of the hilarious distasters that can happen planning such an important day.

Sophie was immediately loveable - the exact opposite of Cordelia.

This was a truly heartwarming story that went to places I'd never expected - showing the many, many faces of our cast of characters in the most absurdly wonderful and heartbreaking situations they find themselves in. A beautiful story about friendship, family and just a little glimmer of romance.





RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Katy Birchall and NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley for opportunity to read Katy Birchall’s first adult novel.

A good romcom , amusing, fast paced and highly entertaining. In the early stage of reading I felt this book might be unsuitable for an elderly reader, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s good for a laugh, despite the intermittent WhatsApp and messenger interruptions (I’m not a fan of social media!), so putting that aside, I actually enjoyed not having to overly concentrate and could appreciate the author’s talent, mix of characters and imagination.

The story line is inevitable with the “professional” bridesmaid becoming a close friend and ally to an initially hostile autocratic client ... and falling for the bride’s brother.

First the positives............I really really enjoyed the book, it’s an easy light-hearted read with likeable characters - even the one who starts off decidedly unlikeable! It’s a book about female friendship and loyalty and of course romance and weddings - what’s not to like?

The negatives: it’s hard for me to read unedited books, it takes a bit of the enjoyment out of the read for me. When one person’s dialogue runs into the next with no gaps, leaving you to have to re-read and take a bit of time to work out who’s saying what?

The storyline: a professional bridesmaid, who is really a wedding planner who pretends to be a close friend taking on an agreed fictional name and persona, just seemed too far fetched for me. For all I know it may be a real thing but it just seems a bit crazy, especially if you take a client who is a famous marchioness who’s wedding is going to be splashed in newspapers and magazines, you’re fictional persona would soon be uncovered! Did that spoil it for me - no, not at all!

All in all, I give it three stars and I still recommend it as a light hearted happy ending read!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a light hearted and me laugh in place. Would love to read more of Katy Birchall books. The story is about romance, love, friendship and loyalty.
I loved the characters and warmed to them straight the way. The story grabbed straight the way till the end. The story is about Sophie and her business is being a bridesmaid to totally strangers. She comes a cross Cordelia who’s mum has hired her to help Cordelia wedding. Cordelia is not happy about this and Sophie comes across some challenges.
I definitely recommend this book and give it 5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and Katy Birchall for letting me read this book.